Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Cry of "Freedom"

Asia News is first, as usual, with news of the "Palium" Mass", Piecing together the Popes's speech from their account the freedom of the Church seems to be the dominant theme, for us in Europe this poignant in the light of the Brussel's police raids.

"The communion with Peter and his successors, in fact, is the guarantee of freedom for the Church's Pastors and the Communities entrusted to them."
“Historically, union with the Apostolic See, ensures the particular Churches and Episcopal Conferences freedom with respect to local, national or supranational powers, that can sometimes hinder the mission of the ecclesial Church. Furthermore, and most essentially, the Petrine ministry is a guarantee of freedom in the sense of full adherence to truth and authentic tradition, so that the People of God may be preserved from mistakes concerning faith and morals. Hence the fact that each year the new Metropolitans come to Rome to receive the pallium from the hands of the Pope, must be understood in its proper meaning, as a gesture of communion, and the issue of freedom of the Church gives us a particularly important key for interpretation. This is evident in the case of churches marked by persecution, or subject to political interference or other hardships. But this is no less relevant in the case of communities that suffer the influence of misleading doctrines or ideological tendencies and practices contrary to the Gospel".

Pope Benedict should know. The Church in which he gew up has a shameful record of collaboration with the Nazis. Pius XII would have done much more if he had been sure that he could carry the German Church with him. Nobody ever censured Karl Adam, Germany's leading theologian, for accepting the Nazi ideology of blood and race.

It is not surprising that Pope Benedict warns about the "nazification of the faith" and draws such a clear distinction between church and state.

I have nothing against Germans but the sound of the language gives me the creeps. There might be a reason for it. Can't help thinking of a certain Adolf Hitler. That is unfortunate of course, but it is a widespread response even now, 65 years after the end of the war, and a good reason why Mass should not be celebrated in a foreign language and certainly not German outside Germany. I did not walk out. I would not do that. I just did not go in in the first place.

I expect Mass to be in Latin or the language of the country. That is in accordance with the rules of the church. I also expect anyone saying Mass to take the trouble to learn it in the language of the country he is saying it at least to be able to say Mass decently. I also expect any bishop to be able to say Mass in Latin. It is surely a prerequisite for being able to do the job.

The Bishop did not have to celebrate. He could have sat in the choir. He was not in his own diocese.

There have been rows over this before, when a German bishop went to Poland and celebrated Mass in German. That was of course inflammatory and the flames duly came.

The local bishops should issue clear instructions on the point, putting a stop to the practice. Private or ethnic minority community Masses are another matter but this was not one of them.

German is a beautiful language, that of Goethe, Schiller, Heine. Luther's hymns are magnificent. What can compare with a Corpus Christi procession in a samll German village, with the village band at the front of the procession, and the whole population walking behind singing lustily? I am sorry that the language gives Physiocrat the creeps, but it was spoken long before Hitler existed and will be spoken long after he has been forgotten. You will note from my previous comment that I am no uncritical admirer of Germany, but I do appreciate its virtues now. I am perhaps influenced by the fact that my wife , a refugee from the Third Reich, watches German TV most evenings. I wonder if his Holiness does likewise?

Independent, of course you are right but there is a whole generation who grew up at a time when German and Germany had a different meaning. These associations are almost a reflex, even though some of my best friends are German.

It will take another 50 years before the taint has gone.

The point is that the church has its own language, thereby avoiding all the problems that inevitably arise when living languages are used. Language is political and all sorts of power games are played with it.

The crowd in front of Pontius Pilate spoke Aramaic and they left no tape recordings. Amongst people of a certain age, the sound of German has unfortunate associations all over Europe. I have nothing whatsoever against Germans - some of my best friends are German.

However, the general principle is that mass should be celebrated in the local language or Latin. In places where there are language sensitivities, it would be a good idea if it was normally celebrated only in Latin, so that the Catholic community does not split along the lines of linguistic division.

From your comments about the criminality of the rabbis who assembled the Talmud, can one assume that you are a holocaust denier if not a card-carrying Nazi?

"Christ's murderers", "criminal rabbis" - really ! I suppose Wolsey also believes in the blood libel, and venerates Little St Hugh of Lincoln, St William of Norwich,St Simon of Trent. One would have thought that Vatican II, John Paul II, and Pope Benedict had extirpated such dangerous nonsense from the minds of the faithful. However it would seem that some Catholic (and indeed Protestant) traditions of hatred die hard.

Ubi Petrus, ibi ecclesia, et ubi ecclesia vita eterna

Pray for Francis our Pope, and for the Church of God

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